


Date Night

by martial_quill



Series: The Importance of Estel [2]
Category: Daredevil (TV), The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, Matt Murdock Is An Awkward Puppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 17:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18287021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/martial_quill/pseuds/martial_quill
Summary: Matt just thinks his adoptive parents should have a date night. And he has no ulterior motives. Really, Atto.A sequel to 'Take A Chance On Me.'





	Date Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beguile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beguile/gifts).



> Written for a Tumblr challenge for Beguile. Prompt: 'They're so cute when they're asleep.' It made me think of half-developed ideas that I had for Claire and Matt meeting as teenagers in the 'Take A Chance On Me' verse. And thus, this was born.

“When was the last time you two went out, anyway?”

Maglor’s musing on a new melody, something syncopated and quick, a reinterpretation of the typical Christmas carol, is quickly cut off. Beside him, Neniel shoots him a puzzled, curious glance, and he shrugs at her. He’s not sure where this is coming from, either.

“Yesterday, of course,” Neniel says. “You remember, you were there. We all went down to the park on Pier 84, and on the way back, we got gelato.”

Matt sighs. It is world-weary, exasperated, and it’s still startling to Maglor that his son – sixteen years old, for pity’s sake! – is sighing like an adolescent, thoroughly grieved by his parents’ obtuseness.

“ _Exactly,_ Emmá,” Matt says. “ _I_ was there. When was the last time you two went out alone?”

 _…is our son trying to play matchmaker?_ Neniel asks him. She sounds very puzzled about it.

 _I can’t imagine who he might have picked it up from,_ he tells her.

Her fingers flash over his ribs, and he laughs, catching at her wrists before she can tickle him very much.

“I’m not sure, exactly,” Maglor says, hedging a little, as Matt continues to look at them. He hasn’t been counting. Although he does have a fairly strong suspicion.

Matt is quiet for a moment, pushing his food around his plate. “Was it before you brought me home?”

Well.

After a moment, Neniel reaches for his shoulder and squeezes, before replying.

“Childhood is a very short time, from an Elf’s perspective. It is quite normal for parents to take a break from other things, while they’re raising a child.” Which is not _quite_ an answer to Matt’s original question, but it should ease some of the guilt that he’s feeling. They’ve become more skilled at reading his feelings on his face: the furrow of his eyebrows, the twist to the corners of his lips.

“So it was,” Matt says. “Is that why you stopped touring, as well, Atto?”

“Yes,” Maglor says, getting up and walking around the table to kiss the top of Matt’s head. “I’ve played in a score of orchestras. I only have a handful of children. I wasn’t going to miss out on the life of my youngest.” 

Matt still looks a little guilty, but his shoulders are relaxing, and Maglor can hear Neniel’s amusement echoing through their bond, like a bubbling fountain. _He has your guilty face! How does he have your guilty face?_

 _Oh, hush_ , he tells her, and she laughs aloud. At Matt’s raised eyebrow, she says: “Of all the things you don’t need to worry about, Matt, Maglor’s musical career may be at the top of the list.”

“I know that,” their son says, sounding a little defensive, but then he shrugs, a moment later. “Still. I’m sixteen now. You can leave me at home without worrying about the apartment burning down.”

“That’s true,” Maglor admits, sitting back down and taking another bite of the salmon. Matt’s old enough to cook for himself, now. He cooks for the family at least two or three times a week, he can do most of the tasks around the apartment – well, the one’s where vision is actually not a necessity – and when school is in session, his homework is always turned in on time. “You won’t be bored?”

Matt hesitates, and then says: “Nah, of course not. I’ll be fine.”

Neniel smirks, and Maglor raises his eyebrows at her. _You know something?_

 _I have my suspicions,_ she says. What she says aloud is: “Mm, if you say so, darling _._ ” She takes a drink of her glass.

Silently, again, her stream-song bubbles: _trust me._

Well, she hasn’t led him wrong yet.

* * *

Matt had a point, Maglor thinks, as they walk back, hand in hand, up the stairs. It _had_ been wonderful to spend some time together, just the two of them. 

Neniel is bouncing, a spring to her step, as they reach the floor of their apartment, and she nearly fumbles the key to the door. Maglor catches it and slides it into the lock, opening the door, and blinks.

On the couch, Matt is curled up with Claire, Soledad’s daughter. His head is leaning on his arm and the right arm of the couch, and she has fallen asleep with her head on his thigh, curled up beneath a blanket. Neniel’s laptop is still sitting on the coffee table, with a DVD case beside it.

 _Children. They’re so cute when they’re asleep,_ Neniel sighs.

Maglor smiles, wrapping an arm around her waist. _You make it sound like he’s still at the cranky toddler stage of things._

She laughs aloud at that, and Claire’s eyes flutter open, even as Matt jerks awake. Claire is mumbling a greeting, still sleepy, but obviously trying to be polite. Matt’s reaction is not as composed.

First, his head tilts to the side and he takes a deep breath, assessing who is in the apartment. Then, when he smells them and recognises them, a pink flush creeps up his neck, onto his cheeks.

And third comes the stuttering. “Uh, oh, Emmá. Atto. I didn’t think you’d be…we…”

“We fell asleep,” Claire says, looking almost as embarrassed as Matt. Neniel is almost shaking with laughter now. “We didn’t…”

_Oh._

That had not been the reaction that Maglor had been expecting. He probably would have felt it, if he’d been in Matt’s position as a youth, but then, the Noldor had always been sterner about these things than most Men these days were.

If Neniel says anything, she is going to break down into hysterical laughter.

If Matt or Claire try to say anything, they are going to melt into puddles of embarrassment.

It appears as though it’s up to him.

“How was the telenovela?” Maglor asks, picking up the DVD case. “I haven’t seen this one, I don’t think.”

Claire relaxes, the tension flowing out of her shoulders, and she smiles. Matt still looks guilty, but less.

Maglor decides that he will call it progress.


End file.
